Apr. 20, 2022
The following is my comment for proposed rule #SR-NSCC-2022-003: With the market already lacking transparency and accountability for large institutions, I am disheartened and disgusted that this rule is being proposed. The rule would increase avoidance of true market price discovery through extended over-lending and failures to deliver. It also removes the risk of predatory naked short selling entirely. There are barely deterrents for engaging in what is supposed to be an illegal practice as it is. The proposal of this absurd rule is like saying to tax paying, law abiding citizens that the criminals are breaking existing rules to such an extent that they have put us all in jeopardy so, instead of putting them in jail or holding them accountable, we are going to adjust the rules so they can continue to rob you. Then, all of the rich financial criminals and those who invest with them can keep their ill-gotten gains and continue robbing the small investor with failures to deliver. We finally have them on the ropes, although they rigged the game for the past 40 years, and now you want to give them another escape route. So, in essence, my taxes are paying people to come up with ideas to make sure that the investments that I guessed correctly on will lose money. Are you telling us that when retail loses we indeed lose, and when we win the rules are altered so that we still lose? This is the message you’ve delivered to retail over and over. It’s all upside for market makers and hedge funds who excessively short sell securities, and all downside for those on the wrong side of their shorting. How does this rule contribute to a “fair” market? What this rule will do is further distance the true price of a stock from its ticker and the value a company based on what MMs and hedge funds determine it should be. They already destroy companies that compete directly with what they go long on and decide which businesses should survive or die, so why give them more ammunition to fail to deliver and enter more synthetic shares into the market? Why give them more strategies to hurt the U.S. and retail investors than what they already abuse? If I were to place an irresponsible, bad bet I would face infinite loss. What this bill intends to do is remove the risk and potential for loss, effectively marking hedge funds and MMs, who have irresponsibly risked money that isn’t theirs, as “too big to fail”. A major difference from 2008’s situation to today’s is that the whole world is watching this time. Millions of working class people are educating themselves on the markets and are onto the game now. It’s easy to dismiss a few thousand, but you can’t dismiss millions of us who you’re trying to devise ways to steal an honest and hard earned win from. Thanks for your time, L Fisher